Nightmare
by wscaster
Summary: What started as a trip to help with some team building turns into a nightmare.  This is a Countrycide story, yes it's probably been done to death but it's plot bunny that just wouldn't leave me alone!
1. Chapter 1

How the hell did he end up here? His job was supposed to be safe, well relatively safe. After all how safe could you be in a job where you track and hunt down aliens and alien technology? But he was just the archivist, the administrative assistant, the tea boy. How was that dangerous? Ok so he also did the clean up for the others, and yes sometimes the "action" wasn't quite as over as the others thought, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

But this was different, this was bad. This could quite possibly be the day that he died.

He tried to look around the room from where he lay, but the only thing he could see was someone with a hood covering their face lying close by. But the smell was unmistakable. He'd smelled it before, when he'd been sent to clean up a scene after the others had finished.

The others. He wondered where they were, what they were doing. Then he wondered how he'd gotten here. He tried to remember, but the thumping in his head make it hard. He tried to move, to get more comfortable, to sit up. But he found that his hands were tied behind his back. No not tied, handcuffed? He was handcuffed? How the hell had that happened?

He tried to look around again, he rolled a little onto his back, even though the movement stirred up more pain. But it was worth it, he could see more of the room, could see the plastic that covered everything. Thick plastic. Dirty plastic.

That was when he remembered where he was.

"Tosh?" he tried calling out, but it came out as more of a croak than anything.

"Tosh?" he tried again.

The only response he got was a whimper from the hooded figure, but he knew that it wasn't her. He knew then that she must have gotten away. He remembered trying to get away, a couple of times. And he remembered the pain he'd felt when he'd failed each time.

And again he found himself wondering how he'd ended up here. He wasn't a field agent, he didn't know why this time had been different, why Jack had insisted that he come with them.

He heard someone whistling, almost cheerfully. He was tempted to call out to who ever it was, get some help for them. Then he realised that whoever was whistling wasn't likely to be of any help to them, and was in fact probably getting ready to do what ever it was that they had planned for him and the other person.

He tensed up as he heard the plastic move as someone entered, a woman. He felt a moment of relief, until he saw the bat that she was carrying. Saw that it was her who had been whistling.

"Time to tenderise the meat." She said cheerfully.

Ianto watched as she moved over to the other person and ripped off the hood. He could see that the boy was terrified, that he'd given up. He felt a calm come over him again, similar to the one that had passed over him just before he'd head butted the man so that he and Tosh could escape. He kicked out at the woman, anything to get her attention, to give the others time to find Tosh and rescue him and this boy.

He grinned as he watched her start to fall, but felt his heart stop as she caught the edge of the table and held herself up. He saw the smile on her face turn feral as she turned to face him.

"Oh feisty," she said as she swung the bat at him, as if tenderising a cut of meat, "all the more fun for me."

The beating seemed to go on forever, enough to cause him immense pain, but never enough to shatter bone, though he thought that she may have cracked one or two of his ribs. He refused to cry out, instead he turned his attention inwards, slowly drifting away from the present and the pain. Until the final blow came crashing down on his head and everything went black.

She had run as fast as she could when Ianto had head butted one of their attackers. She knew that he had been scared, hell she was scared and she faced aliens on a daily basis. But for some reason this was different. When they had been trapped in that cellar she had treated it like any other puzzle that they came across, something to be figured out and dealt with. That was until she'd opened the fridge and found the remains of the missing people. She'd tried to stop Ianto from looking in the fridge, she really had, but he'd been determined. Once he'd seen inside he seemed to shut down, the fear that had been fuelling him changed and he concentrated on trying to get them out of their prison.

Finding the piles of shoes and closed had almost been more terrifying than finding the contents of the fridge, her mind had jumped back to her history lessons, learning about the concentration camps where millions were killed, their belongings thrown into piles to be processed and maybe used later. That had been when she had started to realise that they were in trouble.

So she ran until she couldn't run anymore and then she hid. But it had been for nothing, maybe it had bought them a little time, but she wasn't even sure of that. Now they had Owen and Gwen as well, and it looked as if Gwen had been shot recently.

They had been herded back to the house she had so recently escaped from. They only had one hope now, she knew that their lives depended upon Jack finding them and stopping the madness. But it was such a small hope that she had trouble holding onto it.

She saw the look of horror on Gwen and Owen's face as she asked about Ianto, but soon all of them were focused on the leader as he pulled a hooded body from the ground as if it were a rag doll. The hood was quickly removed and she was shocked at how pale Ianto looked. He was unconscious, but soon came round as the leader slapped him a couple of times. They all saw the moment that he realised what was happening, when he realised that there was a blade being held to his throat. The utter terror that he was feeling, and she felt her heart breaking for him.

Then Jack arrived like an avenging angel, bullets flew and all hit their intended targets, none going astray. She'd never seen shooting like that before, and prayed that she never would again. As Jack took the villagers out she crawled over to where Gwen was cradling Ianto, protecting him from anything that might fly in their direction.

As quickly as it started, it ended and there was a moment of complete silence which was broken by Gwen pleading with Jack not to kill the leader. She only spared Jack and Gwen a glance before she went back to trying to soothe Ianto. Owen had moved to help the boy, checking him over quickly before moving over to check on Ianto.

He couldn't believe that things had gotten so out of hand, it was supposed to be a simple trip to the country, a team building, team bonding exercise. God knew they could do with some time together where they weren't fighting for their lives, or saving the world. He'd seen the reports of missing people, people that had apparently just fallen of the face of the earth. He didn't think that there was anything alien involved, and had thought that a camping trip in the country would help them all unwind a little, get to know each other.

The trip to Breacon Beacons had been nice, even relaxing. There hadn't been a sense of impending doom, they had chatted, sparodically at first, but as they each relax the conversation had picked up and they had all joined in. Jokes had been made stories shared and bonds had started to form, and Jack had been pleased that his plan had been working so well.

But things had gone down hill quickly as his plans for their accommodation had been reviled. Owen had not been pleased to say the least and spent the entire time they had spent setting up their camp letting them all know and hitting out at anyone who even offered to help. Jack had felt the urge to just shoot Owen well up, but he'd been able to dismiss that idea as he remembered that it was just Owen being Owen. He'd listened as Gwen had tried to lighten the mood, his interest being piqued as he heard the topic she'd chosen, but soon he found himself on alert and had felt the need to step in and lighten the mood when he saw Tosh was reluctant to join in and a glance over to where Ianto was told him to do something and quickly.

But still he hadn't thought that the day would go so horribly wrong.

Looking back he thought he couldn't believe how arrogant and overconfident he'd been. He'd assumed that because they were that far away from the rift that whatever was happening out here in the countryside couldn't possibly hurt them, it was probably just some silly urban myth that had gotten out of control.

Instead he'd wandered into one of his nightmares, where past met present and the people he cared about got hurt and nearly died. He'd found himself calling on skills that he'd hoped he'd never have to use again to find the answers he'd needed before it was to late. He'd had to awaken parts of himself that he'd felt were better left asleep and buried to make sure that he got his people back safely, that he got Ianto back.

Desperation, fear and anger had combined into a terrible force that drove him. He felt oddly alive and at the same time detached as he drove the tractor into the house where he now knew that his team were being held, hoping and praying that he was in time. He was out of the tractor before it had even stopped moving, the element of surprise was his biggest weapon and he intended to make full use of it. Adrenaline kicked in to steady his hand as he took out each of the villages while scanning the room for his team at the same time. As each of the villagers fell he felt a small flicker of satisfaction, then when the last fell he took a moment to look at the devastation that he had brought. For a split second he wasn't totally sure where or when he was, but the movement of the policeman reaching for his gun brought him back in a snap. Then he had the leader against the wall, gun pressed under his chin, almost hoping he'd be given a reason to pull the trigger, but Gwen was there, begging him not to, pulling him back again to the here and now and it didn't seem important anymore. This monster would be dealt with, he would pay for his crimes now that they had caught him.

"Report."

Jack knew he sounded harsher than he'd intended but he had to know that everyone was all right, and until he'd heard from all his team then he'd still be in fight mode.

"Gwen?"

"I'm all right."

He looked her over quickly, noting the still to pale face and the fact that she was clutching her side where she'd been shot. He hopped that she hadn't done any more damage or that her wounds were not still bleeding. She'd already lost to much blood as far as he was concerned. He made a mental note to make sure that Owen checked her out again.

Oh and wasn't that a can of worms he didn't really want to delve into. Gwen and Owen, he'd seen them flirting, he knew that Gwen loved Rhys, but Owen was a player and Jack could see the mutual attraction between the two. He just hoped that whatever happened between the two of them wouldn't interfere with what she had with Rhys.

"Tosh?"

"Yeah, just a little headache, nothing serious."

Jack sighed with relief, she sounded all right, he couldn't really get a good look at her thought because she was helping Owen with something.

"Ianto?"

"Ah give us a moment Jack," Owen said.

Jack stopped dead, his heart seemed to freeze for a moment as it registered that Owen had answered and not Ianto. There were only two reasons that he wouldn't, one was that Jack had pissed him off so badly that he refused to answer, or the second was that he wasn't able to answer. His mind flashed back to the moment he'd reached for Ianto after he'd come back after Lisa had killed him, he'd known as soon as his hand had touched Ianto that Lisa had killed him as well, and that he couldn't bare, so he'd pulled him out of the water and cradled him, then he'd kissed him, forcing some of his life energy into the younger man until Ianto had gasped in a great lung full of air. He knew that Ianto hadn't realised what had happened, that he'd had no idea that he'd died, that his girlfriend who he'd done everything to save had killed him. And Jack had no intention of telling him, or reliving that experience again any time soon. He wasn't ready to loose Ianto, not yet.

"Ianto?"

Jack moved closer to where Tosh and Owen were working together and saw Ianto laid out between them. Again he wondered how in hell things had gotten so out of his control. This was not supposed to happen, it was suppose to be a relaxing trip into the countryside to follow up on what should have been a false lead.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm fine Jack." Ianto said softly. He didn't' want them fussing or Jack worrying about him, he didn't deserve that.

"How about you let me be the judge of that." Owen said gently.

Ianto tried to sit up and was greeted with a shooting pain throughout his body and the room started moving around him. He knew that they had all heard him, and was mildly embarrassed when he felt gentle hands easing him back down. Not the best way to convince them that he was fine. He felt even more embarrassed when he realised that the gentle hands belonged to none other than Owen, who he would have sworn hated his guts.

He hadn't known why Jack had been so insistent that he come with them this time, especially when Jack had insisted on driving himself. That was usually the only reason that he joined the team when they went out. But once he'd run out of reasons for not going and realised that he had no choice in it he'd decided to make the most of it and show them what he could do, that he could help them, to show them that he could be trusted.

Look how that had turned out. He'd shown them all right. Showed them that he could be trusted to get himself and Tosh in trouble, shown that he'd been able to get himself hurt. If this had been some type of test that Jack had set him, he had failed it in spectacular fashion.

Owen needed to check the villagers, stop them from bleeding to death, not that they didn't deserve to, but he needed to make sure that his team mates were all right. He and Jack seemed to have been the only ones to escape relatively unscathed by what had happened. Well physically at any rate, god knew what the psychological effects would be. He was relatively sure that Gwen's wounds hadn't started bleeding again, but he would do a more thorough check on that later. Tosh had a slight concussion and probably some bruising but she was mobile and coherent, so he wasn't too concerned, he'd keep checking her to make sure it was nothing more serious. Jack looked dangerous, but uninjured. How he'd managed that he didn't think he'd ever know.

The only thing that he himself could complain about would be a bruised ego. How had these small village hicks caught them all off guard so easily. For Christs sake they chased down aliens and alien technology for a living, but they had nearly all been taken down by some home grown whack jobs.

From the moment that he'd seen Ianto being held there with the cleaver at his throat he'd been worried, his training had kicked in and he'd started assessing the injuries, the ones he could see and those that he suspected. Definitely a concussion, not sure how serious, possible internal injuries, possible muscle and tendon damage to his arms and shoulders from the way his arms were restrained behind his back. The urge to go and help Ianto was almost irresistible, he was a doctor after all, and he was damn good at it. But he knew that if he even attempted to do anything at that time he would have been killed immediately and the others soon after. So he had watched, waited, catalogued and assessed as he knelt there helplessly, waiting for the chance to help his college, his friend.

Then Jack had arrived, and all hell had broken loose, each of them had scrambled for cover and to help. All that was except for Ianto, he seemed to have gone into shock, not that he blamed him. And there was Jack, standing there like a vengeful god bring his wrath down on those who had murdered people, who had dared to hurt his people, who had planned to torture and kill his people. To say Jack looked dangerous did not do the man justice. Owen had seen Jack pissed off before, had even seen him so angry that he could kill before, but never had he ever seen this side of Captain Jack Harkness, and he prayed to all the gods that there ever were that he not see it ever again. Jack was beyond angry, but he was also totally in control.

By the times that the gun fire had stopped Owen was already hard at work, checking the kid over, telling him that he would be fine and to just stay where he was, then he'd moved over to where Tosh was helping Ianto, he quickly checked her over then moved onto Ianto. He could hear Gwen pleading with Jack to let her talk to the leader and he felt the fear for her well up inside him, but it was soon over taken by more immediate problems and concerns. Gwen was all right, she was injured, yes, but he'd treated her and Jack was with her. So he concentrated on Ianto, looking at him closer, checking for injuries that weren't so obvious and double checking that he'd already observed from a distance. He wished that they were closer to the Hub where all his good medical tools were, or close to a hospital where he could admit both Ianto and Gwen. But the closest hospital would soon be inundated with the villagers with gun shot wounds and the police that would be accompanying them. So he set about checking them, trying to make them both as comfortable as he could for now so that he could get them all home where he could take better care of them. He was a doctor after all and that was part of the reason that Jack had hired him all those years ago.

Jack felt torn, he wanted to go and check on Ianto himself, for even though the younger man had answered him he could tell that Ianto wasn't all right. He sounded so far away, so quiet, but the pain had bled through those beautiful Welsh vowels that he loved so much. He hadn't known until that moment if Ianot had been dead or alive. As he'd interrogated their prisoner to find out what was going on he'd felt his anger and rage build to levels that it hadn't done for decades, he'd found himself calling on skills he hadn't used for even longer and the more he'd heard the colder his blood seemed to turn until he'd gotten the whole story from their prisoner. Then he'd simply hand cuffed the man to a pipe and calmly went to end this nightmare.

Anger and rage had been fuelled by fear and desperation until there was nothing else left. These people had to pay for what they had done, for all the people they had killed and eaten and even for those they had convinced to turn a blind eye to what was happening or even joining them. It had to stop, and if it had to be him that stopped them then he had no problems with that, not after what he had heard and what he feared.

It had been so easy, the tractor had been there waiting for him, he knew exactly where he had to go and as he approached the house he saw exactly how he was going to enter. Right through the wall. Time had seemed to stand still as he went into action. He ploughed through the wall and was out of the tractor before it had even stopped. He'd scanned the room in the instant between the wall crashing down and him leaping from the tractor and had spotted the villagers, they barely had time to be surprised or retaliate before he started shooting them, not to kill, not yet, not until he knew if his people were alive. One shot each and then on to the next. He'd always had good aim, his years of practice had only meant that he'd gotten even better. He knew that he could be a damn good killing machine, had in fact been one at times in his long distant past. Each villager fell and he saw the look of defeat, of resignation as each of them accepted that it was over. Then the policeman had reached for his weapon so he'd shot him again, and again it was not a kill shot. He could see some of his people, alive and moving, so today he would not be the one to end their lives. But when he found the leader, saw the look of contempt in the man's face, but then Gwen had been there begging with Jack, pleading with him, she needed answers and he knew that she needed to hear them from the source. That even if he gave her the answers she wouldn't believe him. Just as he knew that he would be there with her as she asked those questions and demanded those answers, even though he'd want to be with Ianto, making sure that he was all right and getting his whole team back home again and far away from this nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Sorry about the long wait, but RL has been a little hectic lately and I just haven't had much of a chance to do anything at all :o( Hopefully things have calmed down again! There will be one more part after this one...and again I just have to get it written! So please R&R, and thanks so much to all of you who have taken the time to send me a review! It totally makes my day when I get one :oD

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As far as Owen was concerned the couldn't get back to Cardiff soon enough, this whole trip had been a nightmare from the moment Jack had told them where they were going. But even then he didn't think it could have been as bad as it was. Some of the things he'd seen and done since he'd been with Torchwood were enough to make him shudder, but this trip would give him nightmares for years to come.

And he knew it.

He could only imagine what it would do to Gwen, Ianto and Tosh. Jack had a haunted look about him that even Owen couldn't miss. That was probably part of the reason why their trip back was so quiet.

It had taken them nearly all day to actually get out of there, what with them having to help clean up the mess, waiting for the police and the ambulances to arrive, and the questioning which Gwen had demanded she be allowed to do. Not that he could blame her need to know, hell he wanted to know what could possibly drive one person to willingly kill and butcher another person to eat. But it had taken time, which had, if he was honest with himself, flew by. He'd been busy treating the villagers, making sure that they didn't bleed to death, not that that hadn't been tempting either, but he was a doctor. He'd also been kept busy keeping an eye on Gwen, making sure her wounds stayed clean and didn't start bleeding again, and Tosh who had a headache, probably a slight concussion as well and some bruising, and Ianto who was by far the worst off and the most worrying out of all of them.

Owen would have dearly loved to have Ianto back at the hub where he could keep a close eye on him, with all the medical equipment, earth and alien, at hand incase of any emergancies. And hadn't he had to fight to make sure that the paramedics hadn't just hauled Ianto and Gwen off with them, even if he hadn't been against it in the first place, he sure as hell would have been once he'd seen the look on Jack's face when the medic treating Ianto had started making noises about taking him to the hospital. Oh boy was that not happening!

Owen couldn't blame Jack for his reaction though, he'd had the same one, he wanted them all out of this hell hole as soon as possible, and hell, he had better facilities to treat the team than any hospital had. Especially around here. And especially after the influx of gun shot wounds that they were presently dealing with. He had to smirk at the memory of that. The first police and paramedics had all had the same reaction. "What the fuck had happened here?"

So here they were about an hour away from the hub, traffic permitting. Jack was driving, scaring the hell out of any animal that even dared to come near the road. Tosh in the front passenger seat, quietly staring out her window, but she answered when ever he asked her anything to make sure her concussion wasn't worse than he thought. Gwen was in the back directly behind Jack, she'd fallen asleep as soon as they'd helped her into the seat and was now gently slumped against him. He was content to let her sleep throughout the trip, was better if she did. He sat in the middle of the back seat and had Ianto on his other side, behind Tosh. Owen had half wondered if Jack hadn't deliberatley put Ianto on that side of the SVU so that he could keep an eye on him via the rear view mirror, and again Owen couldn't blame Jack for his protectiveness.

It scared him how close they had come to loosing first Gwen and then Ianto. As much as he teased and picked on the Welshman he also liked and had come to admire him for his strength and courage. Not many people could face and survive what he had and still function. Hell he'd survived the destruction of Torchwood One, then he'd tried to save his converted girlfriend, only to then have to face one extremely pissed off and angry Captain Jack Harkness, and not just face him, but to stand up for what he believed and then to attack Jack, well that just took guts in his book. But Ianto had done it, and had chosen not to ask for the easy way out, had not asked for a dose of retcon, and had worked hard to try and make it up to the rest of them. And this was how he was repayed? Owen just didn't think it was fair, man could only take so much before he broke.

So Owen had found himself going from a patient to Ianto to another patient and back to Ianto, while making sure that someone was with him at all times. Just in case. They'd only been on the road for half an hour now and he'd already done two checks with Ianto, and neither of those had eased his mind any. Ianto had been sluggish to respond, a little confused and very unfocused. Owen was about to check him again when he noticed that Ianto had started shaking, he turned to look at him and swore. He reached over and turned Ianto's face to him so that he could get a better look at him and immediately felt the clammy skin under his hand, then he noticed the continual swollowing and this time he swore out loud.

"Shit! Jack pull over!" He said as he undid his seatbelt and then reached down to release Ianto's as well. This was not good, he didn't want to spend the rest of the trip stuck in a vehicle that smelled of vomit, and he could see that Ianto was in no fit state to realise that he was about to be sick. "NOW!"

The SVU skidded to a halt, just making it to the side of the road. Owen had the door open and was helping Ianto out before he through up. He tried to catch Ianto as he stumbled from the vehicle and blindly made his way forward before collapsing, still gulping for air.

"What's wrong?" Jack shouted.

"Ah bloody hell, a hand Jack?"

Ianto had collapsed on the ground face down, without the strength to even hold his own weight up, heaving. Owen wanted to get him up so that he didn't choke on his own vomit, but knew that he wasn't strong enough to support Ianto's almost dead weight on his own.

Jack's heart nearly stopped when he heard Owen telling him to stop the SVU, knowing that something was wrong, and knowing without even looking in the mirror that it was Ianto. He'd slammed the breaks on and steared the vehicle to the side of the road, and was surprised when the back door was opened before the vehicle had fully stopped moving. He heard Gwen and Tosh moan at the sudden stop, but he was out of the car and following Owen and Ianto as soon as he'd put the SVU in park. Owen's request for help only made him move that much faster to reach them. He could see Ianto heaving on the ground and knelt behind him to gently support his weight, with his arms gently under his shoulders, so that he wasn't lying on the ground. He watched as Owen moved to raise Ianto's head so that it wasn't slumped against his chest just in time. He could hear Owen whispering soothingly into Ianto's ear as vomited the entire contents of his stomach onto the ground, and then continued for a few minutes, dry heaving as the events of the past 24 hours and his injuries caught up with him. Jack could feel the tremors that ran through Ianto's body, almost strong enough to make him loose his grip at times, but he held on, supporting all of Ianto's body weight. He gently pulled Ianto back to rest against him when the heaving stopped and Owen laid Ianto's head back on Jack's shoulder as he moved to check him out.

Tosh appeared at their side with Owen's medical bag and a damp towel to clean Ianto up. Jack smiled grimly and thanked her before she headed back to where Gwen was now trying to get out of the SVU.

"Ok mate," Owen said, "better out than in I say."

Ianto groaned.

"How are you feeling now?" Owen asked as he grabbed his stethescope out of his medical bag, Jack having claimed the towel to start cleaning Ianto's face. Owen started checking Ianto over again, not moving much further from checking Ianto's eyes which were glassy and unfocused. "Come on mate I need you to answer me."

Ianto tried to focus, but it was just to hard and it hurt to much. He knew that he should be concerend, the voice that was talking to him sounded concerned, but he just couldn't bring himself to care.

"Come on Yan," Jack said softly into his ear while gently soothing his forehead with the cool towel, "we can't help you if you don't tell us how you feel."

"H-hurtss."

"What hurts mate?" Owen questioned, almost absently. He had moved on to check out some of Ianto's other injuries, still worried that the concussion seemed to be getting worse, but he'd also noted that he was starting to have trouble breathing, which with his cracked ribs was not a good sign. The fact that Ianto's mouth had started turning blue and he was weakly clawing at his chest were also not good.

"h-hrts." Ianto slurred as he gasped for breathe. "Br'th"

"Ah shit." Owen swore. "I need you to hold him still Jack, this is gonna hurt."

Jack watched as Owen reached into his bag, searching for something. He could feel Ianto fighting for every breath he took now, and the struggle to simply breath was getting harder, and his speach was becoming even more incoherent by the moment. When he saw the syringe that Owen pulled out of his medical case he suspected what had happened. He adjusted his grip on Ianto so that he held his shoulders tightly with one arm, and his waist with the other, which illicted a groan from Ianto.

"What's wrong? What's happening?" Gwen called from the SVU where she was waiting with Tosh.

They couldn't see what was happening, Jack's back was blocking their view. But she saw the look on Owen's face as he searched his medical bag for something. Whatever was happening wasn't good. She almost jumped from the back seat when she saw Owen retreive the huge needle from his kit to use on Ianto. The fact that he had a needle wasn't what had her worried, it was the fact that the syringe was empty. It looked like Owen was going to attack Ianto with it, sure they had their differences and Owen liked to tease Ianto whenever he could, but surely he wouldn't do anything to hurt him. Would he?

"No! Don't!" Gwen screamed as she watched Owen move the needle closer, getting ready to stab him with it.

Tosh had been watching and listening to what Owen had been saying and realised what had happened. She thanked any god that there was that Owen was there to help Ianto, because she knew that if he wasn't then Ianto would have been in trouble.

"It's all right Gwen, Owen knows what he's doing." Tosh said, holding Gwen back. It didn't take much effort as Gwen was still weak from the blood loose and shock from her own injuries.

She saw Gwen go a little pailer and knew that Owen must have inserted the needle. She turned her attention back to the men and watched as Owen used his stethescope to listen to Ianto's lungs. She relaxed a little when she saw the look of releif on Owen's face as he nodded to her to let her know that Ianto was all right. It had worked.

"It's all right Gwen, Ianto's going to be all right." Tosh said quietly with a small smile.

Owen listened to the breath sounds on both sides of Ianto's chest again to make sure that the pressure was being releived. He was greatful for the time he'd spent in the E.R.'s during his residency, they'd prepared him well for a lot of what they dealt with in Torchwood. He'd learned to expect the unexpected and to deal with whatever was thrown at him. If he hadn't, he'd have never have passed his final exams, and he would never have realised what was happening as quickly as he had. After all it wasn't every day that you were faced with a pneumothorax, ok so he'd seen a few assult victims develop the problem, and after the first couple he'd learned what to look out for, he'd also learned that the quicker the patient got treatment the better, but that was a memory that he didn't want to dwell on. Right here and right now he had to concentrate on making sure that Ianto was comfortable, and on getting him and Gwen back to the hub where he could take better care of them.

He checked Ianto over once more, before looking at Jack. He was please to see that even though Ianto was unconscious he was breathing easier, and the blue tinge around his mouth had gone.

"Well?"

If Owen didn't know better he would have sworn that Jack sounded scared. But this was Captain Jack Harkness that he was talking about, and he just didn't do scared.

"One of his cracked ribs broke while he was thowing up. The rib then punctured his lung, which let the air in his lung escape into his chest cavity which caused his lung to start to collapse. I've releived the pressure, and he's breathing easier again. His lung has reinflated and is working normally. I'll leave the syringe in until we get back to the hub where I can use our equipment to check him over properly." Owen said as he busied himself with securing the syringe that he'd inserted into Ianto's side. "He should be fine, but we need to get him home."

"Ok, good." Jack said as he relaxed his tight grip on Ianto a little. "So how are we gonna do this?"

"Back of the SVU. We'll have to move some of the stuff into the back seat to make room, but he'll be more comfortable lying down that sitting, and I'll be able to keep a closer eye on him, and the syringe that way as well."

Jack nodded. "There's not much left in the back. Most of the stuff was a write off so I just left it there."

Owen looked at Jack a little sceptically, but didn't say a word. After all, they were all dealing with this any way they could, and if Jack didn't want the physical reminders of some of their equipment then who was he to call him on it.

"Ok you stay here with Ianto and I'll go and make sure there's room in the back for us both."

Owen moved quickly back to the vehicle and stopped breifly to check on Gwen. He wasn't happy about how pale she looked, but other than that she seemed ok for now.

"Want a hand?"

"Thanks Tosh."

They moved to the back and Owen was surprised by how little was now there. He knew that when they'd arrived at Breacon Beacons that back had been almost full with supplies and equipment. Now only the alien tech and their personal belongings remained.

"There's not much left, Jack didn't want it brought back, didn't want Ianto to have to worry about unpacking it, or any of." Tosh said quietly. "How are you holding up?"

Owen was surprised at the question and simply looked at her for a moment before shrugging. Truth be known, he wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment, he still had to much to do and worry about. He crawled into the back of the SVU and rearranged some things to make a little more room, and grabbed some stuff to make the floor a little more comfortable for Ianto.

"Owen?"

He took another moment to make a pillow before he answered.

"I'll be fine." He said simply, and he knew he would be once he was sure that the rest of the were safe.

With the back of the SUV arranged he went back to help Jack carry Ianto. It didn't take them long to get him settled and then they were back on the road again and headed back to the hub. Owen knew that he would be able to relax again before he had a chance to give them all a thorough exam with all of his equipment to make sure that they were all ok.


End file.
